Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night Pushed to 2018

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night has earned a lot of buzz over the past year. For good reason, might I add. Developed by Inti Creates, Bloodstained is the Castlevania spiritual successor that many fans have been dying to see. Led by Koji “Iga” Igarashi, the assistant director of the PlayStation 1 hit Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, the upcoming game looks phenomenal. As Jed Whitaker pointed out earlier this year, it has “great music, a gothic aesthetic, ghoulish enemies, and massive bosses.” But today, it was revealed that Bloodstained‘s release timeline has been pushed back to the first six months of 2018.

Announced by Iga yesterday evening, the game will be bringing on more developers in order to “ensure the game meets quality standards.”

“The last thing I want to do is keep our backers waiting, but after receiving such incredible support, I feel responsible for delivering the best product I possibly can,” he said in a YouTube update. “Again, I offer my sincerest apologies.”

When it comes to game development, delays aren’t easy to announce. They’re difficult decisions to make. But while delays are always sad to see, sometimes the best option is to push back a game’s release date. As conventional wisdom among players suggests, it’s better to delay a game in order to improve its quality than release a premature build with game-breaking bugs. There’s high expectations for Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, too: Fans see the Kickstarter as an attempt to break free from Konami’s recent neglectful attitude towards the franchise.

Although Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night‘s development cycle is expanding, progress isn’t slowing by any means. The Kickstarter team notes that an upcoming update will reveal new songs and commentary from composer Michiru Yamane. The reveal comes at the perfect time, too: Castlevania‘s 30th anniversary is close at hand, with the original game launching in Japan on September 26th, 1986. Stay tuned for more news as the game pushes on closer to its new release date.